How to Teach Vocabulary Review of the Literature
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Transcript of How to Teach Vocabulary Review of the Literature
REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE
2.1. Introduction
The aim of this chapter is to present a review of the available
literature relevant to the topic. It includes a review of vocabulary, its
significance in learning a foreign language, and some of the
techniques to teach it. In addition, it will review audio jokes in ELT
classroom, its role in vocabulary teaching and techniques to teach
them.
2.2. Definition of Vocabulary
Vocabulary is defined as the total number of words that you know in
particular language in Collins Cobuild Dictionary (1994: 1164). It can
be defined, roughly, as the knowledge of words and word meanings.
However, vocabulary is more complex than this definition suggests.
First, words come in two forms: oral and print. The words that are
recognized and used in listening and speaking are included in oral
vocabulary. The words that are recognized and used in reading and
writing are included in print vocabulary. Second, word knowledge
also comes in two forms, receptive (passive) and productive (active).
Receptive vocabulary consists of words that are recognized when
they are heard or seen. Scrivener (1994:74) defines passive
vocabulary as “the set of words we recognize and understand, but
tend not to use ourselves.” Active vocabulary can be defined as the
set of words people actively produce in their own speech and
writing. It consists of words that are used when people speak or
write. Kitao&Kitao (2003: 1) summerizes vocabulary knowledge into
four groups: Speaking: active Listening: passive Reading: passive
Writing: active 10
Receptive vocabulary is typically larger than productive vocabulary,
and may include many words to which people assign some meaning,
even if they don‟t know their full definitions and connotations – or
ever use them themselves as they speak and write. Allen,
(1983:195) states that “even in our own native language, we
recognize and understand many more words than we say or write.”
For example, some people have a receptive vocabulary of up to
100,000 words, but an productive vocabulary of between 10,000
and 20,000 words. In time, some words which we have learned for
comprehension (or recognition) become part of our active (or
productive) vocabulary. In education, the word vocabulary is used
with varying meanings. For example, for beginning teachers,
vocabulary means a set of the most common words in English that
young students need to be able to recognize quickly as they see
them in print. However, for teachers of upper elementary students,
vocabulary usually means the “hard” words that students encounter
in content area textbook and literature selections. Ur (1996: 60)
defines vocabulary as the words we teach in foreign language, but
he distinguishes that a new item of vocabulary may occur in the
form of more than a single word: “We all know "traffic" as a word but
is "traffic light" one word or two? Traffic light has a single meaning,
which is different from that of "traffic" and "light", but it is made up
of two "words".All languages are full of short phrases made up of
several words or chunks of language and teacher should focus on
these as well as the word itself.
2.3. Knowing a Word
Vocabulary is often thought of as lists of words. However, besides
single words, vocabularies include numerous multi-word items.
There is no universal definition of the term vocabulary. Therefore,
establishing what it means to know a word is not an easy task. Is
“knowing” a word being able to recognize what it looks and sounds
like or is it being able to give the word‟s dictionary definition?
Research suggests that, in general, the answer to these questions is
no. Knowing a word by sight and hearing and knowing its dictionary
definition are not the same as knowing how to use that word
correctly and understanding it when it is heard or seen in different
contexts. 11
Several aspects of words need to be taken into account when
learning vocabulary. Based on the work of Gairns and Redman
(1986) the knowledge of words can be classified into three different
categories: 1. Words with which one is thoroughly familiar and use
confidently in his everyday speech and writing. 2. Words that one
vaguely understand in other people's speech and writing, but which
one wouldn't feel comfortable using himself. 3. Those words that one
doesn't understand at all. There are stages, levels or degrees of
word knowledge. These could range from knowing only that one has
seen or heard the word-form without being able to recall the
meaning, to a full understanding of the word and its various nuances
and use in a variety of contexts both receptively and productively. A
full knowledge of a word implies knowing its collocations, that is, the
words with which it is most likely to occur in speech or in writing. In
other words, the term collocation refers to the combinations of
words that are natural and normal to native speakers. Word
knowledge involves a wide range of understandings and skills
related not only to the form but also to the meaning and use of that
particular word. Therefore, all possible aspects cannot be acquired
at once. Learners tend to acquire prototypical meanings and uses
first and, as they advance, they begin understanding others that are
more marked, provided they get enough exposure or
comprehensible input.
Word knowledge involves knowing such aspects as form,
pronunciation, frequency, register, grammatical patterns,
collocations, associations, meanings, and so on (Nation, 1990;
Richards, 1976). According to Nation (1990, 30-33), in order to
'know' a word for the purposes of engaging in the tasks of listening,
reading, speaking, and writing, one needs to acquire not only the
receptive knowledge of these aspects of a word but also the
productive knowledge of them. 12
Word knowledge involves an understanding of the core meaning of a
word and how it changes in different contexts. To know a word, we
not only need to have definitional knowledge, or knowledge of the
logical relationship into which a word enters, such as the category or
class to which the word belongs (e.g., synonyms, antonyms, etc.). In
addition, we also need to understand how the word‟s meaning
adapts to different contexts. This contextual knowledge involves
exposure to the word in multiple contexts from different
perspectives. Children exposed to words in multiple contexts, even
without instruction, can be presumed to learn more about those
words than students who see a word in a single context (Nitsch,
1978; Stahl, 1991). Richards tries to formulate the objectives in
vocabulary teaching and considers some of the knowledge that is
assumed by lexical competence. He brings the characterization of
this lexical competence down to eight broad assumptions: 1. Native
speakers continue to expand their vocabulary in adulthood. Little is
known about the average language user’s vocabulary but anything
from 20.000 to 100.000 words could be within a person’s receptive
vocabulary. 2. Knowing a word means knowing the degree of
probability of encountering that word and the sort of words most
likely to be found associated with the word (frequency and
collocatability). 3. Knowing a word means knowing the limitations of
use according to function and situation (temporal, social,
geographical; field, mode etc.). 4. Knowing a word means knowing
its syntactic behaviour (e.g. transitivity patterns, cases). 5. Knowing
a word means knowing its underlying forms and the derivations. 6.
Knowing a word means knowing its place in a network of
associations with other words in the language . 13
7. Knowing a word means knowing its semantic value. 8. Knowing a
word means knowing its different meanings (polysemy) (Richards,
1985: 76) Thus, the task of vocabulary acquisition in a second
language (L2) is thus a complex and challenging undertaking for
both teachers and students. The challenge could be further
compounded by a multitude of cultural influences on learning of a
word, particularly in the meaning aspect of word knowledge. To sum
up, knowing a word in a target language as well as the native
speaker knows it may mean the ability to:
a. Recognize it in its spoken or written form;
b. Recall it at will;
c. Relate it to an appropriate object or concept;
d. Use it in the appropriate grammatical form;
e. Pronounce it in a recognizable way in speech;
f. Spell it correctly in writing;
g. Use it with the words it correctly goes with, in the correct
collocation;
h. Use it at the appropriate level of formality;
i. Be aware of its connotations and associations
(Wallace, 1982: 27) Of course, it is known that all these cannot occur
simultaneously. Learning and knowing words is an incremental
process; it may take years of learning to fully know a word. A learner
may learn the word blue in terms of its spelling and pronunciation,
and the learner may be able to apply it correctly when describing
color. However, all the idiomatic expressions associated with blue,
including blue Monday, to feel blue, may never be learned. 14
2.4. A brief History of Teaching Vocabulary
Vocabulary teaching is one of the most important key concepts in
ELT classes. It plays a vital role in the process of language learning.
Nevertheless, it is ignored and given insufficient importance. In
previous years, language teaching programs were prepared to teach
basically the grammar and vocabulary was treated as separate from
grammar and other skills. It was believed that after the students had
mastered the grammar, they should be taught necessary words.
And, the language study was done as a word-memorization with
long lists of words. Therefore, language teachers gave little
attention to techniques for helping students learn vocabulary. But,
structures can not be used correctly if there is not enough
vocabulary knowledge. This idea can be explained as: Vocabulary
has been the neglected Cinderella of language teaching; preference
has always been, and still is, given to the two sisters Grammar and
More Grammar. Many English language teachers like to stress
grammar over vocabulary because grammar is a finite system,
whereas vocabulary is not. However, the argument in favor of
placing greater weight on vocabulary is strong. Evidence from the
field of corpus linguistics shows clearly that it is lexical competence,
not the learning of grammatical structures, that must be the priority
for language learners because lexical competence is at the heart of
communicative competence. (Sheenan, 2004:3) Thus, it can be said
that vocabulary has been seen to have a secondary status
compared to grammar of language and grammar has been given
more emphasis than vocabulary teaching. Allen (1983:3)
summerizes the following spesific reasons why vocabulary teaching
has been neglected in the past:
1. A need to emphasize grammar over vocabulary was felt, since
vocabulary was already being given too much time in language
classrooms.
2. Specialists in the field of methodology feared that if students
learned too many words before the basic grammar had been
mastered, they would make many mistakes in sentence
construction. As a result, teachers believed that teaching too many
words was not the best way of teaching language.
15
3. Those who advise teachers seemed to be saying that word
meanings can be learned only through experience and they can not
be adequately taught in a classroom. Consequently, little attention
was directed to vocabulary teaching techniques.
However, it can be said that toward the end of the twentieth
century, it is possible to see a revival of attention to vocabulary
teaching. Instead of describing and memorizing the vocabulary
items as long and boring lists of words, lexical forms have taken
place in contextualised and meaningful language(Brown, 2001).
There are generally three reasons why vocabulary teaching has
gradually regained its emphasis. First, the rise of communicative
methodologies in language teaching has emphasized vocabulary
learning/teaching since students need to improve their vocabulary in
order to communicate appropriately. Second, teaching grammar has
been deemphasized with the increasing need to communicate. And
third, teachers have realized that needs and interests of students
learning English for Specific Purposes (ESP) should be taken into
account. Today, the role of vocabulary is respected by the language
specialists, teachers and students. Seal (cited in Celce- Murcia,
Marianne, 1991:308) states that “now, after a period of relative
neglect, language teachers and researchers are waking up to the
realization that vocabulary is an important area worthy of effort and
investigation.” Now, most people accept that vocabulary is the most
important ingredient of any language. English, like any other
languages, consists of a great many words. Some of them are
frequently used and some not, but it is impossible to imagine a
language without the meaningful signs which carry the information.
This idea is supported as follows: Experienced teachers of English as
a Second Language know very well how important vocabulary is.
They know students must learn thousands of words that speakers
and writers of English use. Fortunately, the need for vocabulary is
one point on which teachers and students agree! (Allen, 1983:1) 16
Now teachers expect students to master vocabulary of the language
as well as its grammatical features. Since grammatical items are
meaningless without words and words are deficient without
grammatical items, the place of vocabulary is as important as the
place of grammar in language teaching and learning. 2.5. The
Importance of Teaching Vocabulary Vocabulary has a significant
value in language teaching. Without vocabulary, language can not
be learnt. To support this belief, Rivers (1981: 462) says that
“language is not dry bones. It is a living thing, growing entity,
clothed in the flesh of words.” In addition to this, Harmer‟s (1998:
66) idea about vocabulary is like that: “If language structures make
up the skeleton of language, then it is the vocabulary that provides
vital organs and the flesh.” In foreign language teaching, vocabulary
is the central element which links all skills. Proficiency in speaking,
listening, writing or reading would be impossible without words. That
is, words are indispensable because every phrase, every
grammatical structure, every piece of information consists of them.
To acquire a foreign language to some extent learners must also
acquire a number of words. And, It should not be neglected that the
learners have to have sufficient vocabulary knowledge as well as
structural and cultural knowledge in order to comprehend the
message and in order to express themselves. For a good
communication, a speaker should have a good vocabulary
knowledge, otherwise our communication will be insufficient. Brown
(2001: 377) supports this idea by saying that “if we are interested in
being communicative, words are among the first priorities.” McCarty
(1990:1) also states that “No matter how well the student learns
grammar, no matter how successfully the sounds of L2 are
mastered, without words to express a wide range of meanings,
communication in an L2 just can not happen in any meaningful
way.” Also, it is stated that: 17
Vocabulary and lexical units are at the heart of learning and
communication. No amount of grammatical or other type of
linguistic knowledge can be employed in communication or
discourse without the mediation of vocabulary Indeed, vocabulary
and lexical expressions can sustain a great deal of rudimentary
communication without much support from other aspects of the
language system. Understanding of the nature and significance of
vocabulary knowledge in a second language therefore needs to play
a much more central role in the knowledge base of language
teachers. (Richards, 2000,xi) In addition, researches show that
lexical problems frequently interfere with communication;
communication breaks down when people do not use the right
words. It is also obvious that the more words we know, the more
precisely we can express ourselves. Learners feel that many of their
difficulties in both receptive and productive language use result
from inadequate vocabulary. Even the best students often complain
about their primary problem in acquiring English, which is the lack of
vocabulary. Rivers (1983, cited in Nunan, 1998:117) claims that “the
acquisition of an adequate vocabulary is essential for successful
second language use because, without an extensive vocabulary, we
will be unable to use the structures and functions we may have
learned for comprehensible communication.” Nunan also adds that
“these days, the consensus of opinion seems to be that the
development of rich vocabulary is an important element in the
acquisition of a second language.” Consequently, students need to
recognize and produce a wide range of vocabulary items in order to
function accurately, appropriately and fluently in different situations.
Words are essential since the lack of them leads to the feeling of
insecurity of a foreign language speaker in the foreign language
environment. In other words, the students with an inadequate stock
of vocabulary may feel frustrated since they cannot express what
they want to say. In order to emphasize the vitally important
necessity of vocabulary, Wallace (1982:9) states that “…not being
able to find the words you need to express yourself is the most
frustrating experience in speaking another language whereas if we
have the vocabulary we need it is usually possible to communicate
after a fashion.” On the other hand, if the students have enough
vocabulary, they feel confident. Therefore, giving importance to
vocabulary becomes inevitable. 18
2.6. How to Teach Vocabulary Vocabulary teaching is not a
simple matter of matching up words in the native language and the
target language. It is also accepted that teaching word meanings
through the use of dictionary or memorizing long lists of words are
not the best ways to develop and to enlarge vocabulary knowledge
because of the fact that it is not a natural way of learning and
students are not able to internalize the subject matter. There is a
useful distinction the language teacher must keep in mind
concerning the teaching of vocabulary. First of all, s/he must be able
to determine whether the vocabulary items at hand are needed by
the students for active use (i.e., recall, production) or passive use
(i.e., recognition, comprehension). An understanding of this
distinction will influence one‟s approach to the vocabulary. Likewise,
vocabulary items necessary for the development of formal reading
and writing skills may not be appropriate when one is learning the
less formal vocabulary typical of listening and speaking. Another
related consideration is that the teacher must decide whether
passive vocabulary is to be learnt permanently or temporarily (i.e.,
acquired merely to understand a given passage in a piece of writing
or a movie with no consideration for later use). All these factors can
influence the way vocabulary is presented and taught in the ESL
classroom. The teacher concerned with vocabulary instruction must
also be aware of the work that has been done in the area of word
counts. There have been many word-lists based on frequency. Word-
lists based on both frequency and usefulness of the various
meanings of a word have also been prepared. The applications of
these word-lists to ESL have been to guide teachers in the selection
of controlled vocabulary used in beginning courses, Vocabulary
instruction is directly or indirectly part of any language course. The
ESL teachers may follow a plan if no provision has been made for
teaching vocabulary in either the syllabus or textbook: 19
1.Form: pronunciation and spelling The learner has to know its
pronunciation (what a word sounds like) and its spelling (what it
looks like). In teaching, both these aspects should be accurately
presented and learned. 2. Grammar The learner needs to be taught
the grammar of a new item. The item may have a change of form in
certain grammatical contexts or may have a way of connecting with
other words in sentences; it is important to provide learners with
this information at the same time we teach the base form. When
teaching a new verb, for example, we might give also its past form,
if this is irregular (break; broke), and we might note if it is transitive
or intransitive. Similarly, when teaching a noun, we may wish to
present its plural form, if irregular (dress, dresses), or draw learners‟
attention to the fact that it has no plural at all (homework,
information). We may present verbs such as want and hate together
with the verb form that follows them (want to, hate –ing), or
adjectives or verbs together with their following prepositions (afraid
of, good at). 3. Collocation The collocations are another factor that
makes a particular combination sound “right” or “wrong” in a given
context. They refer to the restrictions on how words can be used
together. For example, High collocates with probability, but not with
chance: a high probability but a good chance. Knowledge of
collocations is vital for the competent use of a language. 4.Aspects
of meaning (1): denotation, connotation, appropriateness Denotation
is often the sort of definition that is given in a dictionary. The
meaning of a word is primarily what it refers to in the real word, its
denotation; For example, rose denotes a kind of flower. Its
connotation: the associations, or positive or negative feelings it
evokes, which may or may not be indicated in a dictionary definition.
The word dog, for example, as understood by most British people,
has positive connotations of friendship and loyalty; whereas the
equivalent in Arabic, as understood by most people Arab countries
has negative associations of dirt and inferiority.
5. Aspects of meaning (2): meaning relationships 20
How the meaning of one item relates to the meaning of others can
also be useful in teaching. There are various such relationships. Here
are some of the main ones:
Synonyms: items that mean the same, or nearly the same; for
example, bright, clever, smart may serve as synonyms of intelligent.
Antonyms: items that mean the opposite; beautiful is an antonym of
ugly.
Hyponyms: items that serve as specific examples of a general
concept; dress, skirt, t-shirt are hyponyms of clothes.
Co-hyponyms or co-ordinates: other items that are the “same kind of
thing”; horse, bird, fish and dog are co-ordinates.
Superordinates: general concepts that “cover” specific items; fruit is
the superordinate of apple, orange, banana.
Translation: words or expressions in the learners‟ mother tongue
that are equivalent in meaning to the item being taught.
6. Word formation Vocabulary items can often be broken down into
their component “bits”. Exactly how these bits are put together is
another piece of information- perhaps mainly for more advanced
learners. The common prefixes and suffixes may be taught: for
example, if learners know the meaning of re- , in- and –hood, this
will help them guess the meanings of words like regain, insensitive
and childhood. Another way vocabulary items are built is by
combining two words (two nouns, or a gerund and a noun, or a noun
and a verb) to make one item: a single compound word, or two
separate, sometimes hyphenated words (bookcase, swimming pool).
Thus, vocabulary teaching is a very complex process. This
understanding has led to a considerable emphasis on vocabulary.
Lots of strategies are used to teach vocabulary today. Some
techniques such as games, songs, jokes, drama activities that give
students an opportunity of using the new words in meaningful
learning conditions can be helpful. Rivers (1981: 463) points out that
“vocabulary can not be taught. It can be presented, explained,
included in all kinds of activities, but it must be learned by the
individual. „The vocabulary we understand‟ and „the vocabulary we
can use‟ varies in 21
nature and in quantity from one person to another even in our
native language.” Rivers (1981: 469) also asserts that “vocabulary
learning must be active. Vocabulary learning should always be in a
purposeful context. Students should be involved in an activity which
requires them to retrieve from their long term memory store
vocabulary which is appropriate in the circumstances.” Therefore,
language teachers can help their students by giving them ideas on
how to learn vocabulary and some guidance on what to learn. They
need to find systematic ways of helping learners with vocabulary
and they should sometimes give enough time to present vocabulary
thoroughly and systematically. Nation supports this idea that
vocabulary should be taught in a systematic and principled
approach due to the following reasons:
1. Because of the considerable research on vocabulary we have
good information about what to do about vocabulary and about what
vocabulary to focus on.
2. There is a wide variety of ways for dealing with vocabulary in
foreign or second language learning.
3. Both learners and researchers see vocabulary as a very important
if not the most important element in language learning. Learners
feel that many of their difficulties in both receptive and productive
language use, result from an inadequate vocabulary.
(Nation, 1990: 1- 2) Consequently, vocabulary teaching will be just
boredom and time-consuming without any technique. So, while
teaching new words, various ways which are interesting, colourful
and enjoyable can be used. A teacher should know and apply
various techniques targeting the needs and interests of the students
so that teaching can be more motivating and productive. To sum up,
As teachers, we have to determine clearly what to teach and not to
teach. Sometimes our students are loaded with a lot of unnecessary,
impractical vocabulary. The vocabulary objectives must be clearly
announced.
REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE
2.1. Introduction
The aim of this chapter is to present a review of the available
literature relevant to the topic. It includes a review of vocabulary, its
significance in learning a foreign language, and some of the
techniques to teach it. In addition, it will review audio jokes in ELT
classroom, its role in vocabulary teaching and techniques to teach
them.
2.2. Definition of Vocabulary
Vocabulary is defined as the total number of words that you know in
particular language in Collins Cobuild Dictionary (1994: 1164). It can
be defined, roughly, as the knowledge of words and word meanings.
However, vocabulary is more complex than this definition suggests.
First, words come in two forms: oral and print. The words that are
recognized and used in listening and speaking are included in oral
vocabulary. The words that are recognized and used in reading and
writing are included in print vocabulary. Second, word knowledge
also comes in two forms, receptive (passive) and productive (active).
Receptive vocabulary consists of words that are recognized when
they are heard or seen. Scrivener (1994:74) defines passive
vocabulary as “the set of words we recognize and understand, but
tend not to use ourselves.” Active vocabulary can be defined as the
set of words people actively produce in their own speech and
writing. It consists of words that are used when people speak or
write. Kitao&Kitao (2003: 1) summerizes vocabulary knowledge into
four groups: Speaking: active Listening: passive Reading: passive
Writing: active 10
Receptive vocabulary is typically larger than productive vocabulary,
and may include many words to which people assign some meaning,
even if they don‟t know their full definitions and connotations – or
ever use them themselves as they speak and write. Allen,
(1983:195) states that “even in our own native language, we
recognize and understand many more words than we say or write.”
For example, some people have a receptive vocabulary of up to
100,000 words, but an productive vocabulary of between 10,000
and 20,000 words. In time, some words which we have learned for
comprehension (or recognition) become part of our active (or
productive) vocabulary. In education, the word vocabulary is used
with varying meanings. For example, for beginning teachers,
vocabulary means a set of the most common words in English that
young students need to be able to recognize quickly as they see
them in print. However, for teachers of upper elementary students,
vocabulary usually means the “hard” words that students encounter
in content area textbook and literature selections. Ur (1996: 60)
defines vocabulary as the words we teach in foreign language, but
he distinguishes that a new item of vocabulary may occur in the
form of more than a single word: “We all know "traffic" as a word but
is "traffic light" one word or two? Traffic light has a single meaning,
which is different from that of "traffic" and "light", but it is made up
of two "words".All languages are full of short phrases made up of
several words or chunks of language and teacher should focus on
these as well as the word itself.
2.3. Knowing a Word
Vocabulary is often thought of as lists of words. However, besides
single words, vocabularies include numerous multi-word items.
There is no universal definition of the term vocabulary. Therefore,
establishing what it means to know a word is not an easy task. Is
“knowing” a word being able to recognize what it looks and sounds
like or is it being able to give the word‟s dictionary definition?
Research suggests that, in general, the answer to these questions is
no. Knowing a word by sight and hearing and knowing its dictionary
definition are not the same as knowing how to use that word
correctly and understanding it when it is heard or seen in different
contexts. 11
Several aspects of words need to be taken into account when
learning vocabulary. Based on the work of Gairns and Redman
(1986) the knowledge of words can be classified into three different
categories: 1. Words with which one is thoroughly familiar and use
confidently in his everyday speech and writing. 2. Words that one
vaguely understand in other people's speech and writing, but which
one wouldn't feel comfortable using himself. 3. Those words that one
doesn't understand at all. There are stages, levels or degrees of
word knowledge. These could range from knowing only that one has
seen or heard the word-form without being able to recall the
meaning, to a full understanding of the word and its various nuances
and use in a variety of contexts both receptively and productively. A
full knowledge of a word implies knowing its collocations, that is, the
words with which it is most likely to occur in speech or in writing. In
other words, the term collocation refers to the combinations of
words that are natural and normal to native speakers. Word
knowledge involves a wide range of understandings and skills
related not only to the form but also to the meaning and use of that
particular word. Therefore, all possible aspects cannot be acquired
at once. Learners tend to acquire prototypical meanings and uses
first and, as they advance, they begin understanding others that are
more marked, provided they get enough exposure or
comprehensible input.
Word knowledge involves knowing such aspects as form,
pronunciation, frequency, register, grammatical patterns,
collocations, associations, meanings, and so on (Nation, 1990;
Richards, 1976). According to Nation (1990, 30-33), in order to
'know' a word for the purposes of engaging in the tasks of listening,
reading, speaking, and writing, one needs to acquire not only the
receptive knowledge of these aspects of a word but also the
productive knowledge of them. 12
Word knowledge involves an understanding of the core meaning of a
word and how it changes in different contexts. To know a word, we
not only need to have definitional knowledge, or knowledge of the
logical relationship into which a word enters, such as the category or
class to which the word belongs (e.g., synonyms, antonyms, etc.). In
addition, we also need to understand how the word‟s meaning
adapts to different contexts. This contextual knowledge involves
exposure to the word in multiple contexts from different
perspectives. Children exposed to words in multiple contexts, even
without instruction, can be presumed to learn more about those
words than students who see a word in a single context (Nitsch,
1978; Stahl, 1991). Richards tries to formulate the objectives in
vocabulary teaching and considers some of the knowledge that is
assumed by lexical competence. He brings the characterization of
this lexical competence down to eight broad assumptions: 1. Native
speakers continue to expand their vocabulary in adulthood. Little is
known about the average language user’s vocabulary but anything
from 20.000 to 100.000 words could be within a person’s receptive
vocabulary. 2. Knowing a word means knowing the degree of
probability of encountering that word and the sort of words most
likely to be found associated with the word (frequency and
collocatability). 3. Knowing a word means knowing the limitations of
use according to function and situation (temporal, social,
geographical; field, mode etc.). 4. Knowing a word means knowing
its syntactic behaviour (e.g. transitivity patterns, cases). 5. Knowing
a word means knowing its underlying forms and the derivations. 6.
Knowing a word means knowing its place in a network of
associations with other words in the language . 13
7. Knowing a word means knowing its semantic value. 8. Knowing a
word means knowing its different meanings (polysemy) (Richards,
1985: 76) Thus, the task of vocabulary acquisition in a second
language (L2) is thus a complex and challenging undertaking for
both teachers and students. The challenge could be further
compounded by a multitude of cultural influences on learning of a
word, particularly in the meaning aspect of word knowledge. To sum
up, knowing a word in a target language as well as the native
speaker knows it may mean the ability to:
a. Recognize it in its spoken or written form;
b. Recall it at will;
c. Relate it to an appropriate object or concept;
d. Use it in the appropriate grammatical form;
e. Pronounce it in a recognizable way in speech;
f. Spell it correctly in writing;
g. Use it with the words it correctly goes with, in the correct
collocation;
h. Use it at the appropriate level of formality;
i. Be aware of its connotations and associations
(Wallace, 1982: 27) Of course, it is known that all these cannot occur
simultaneously. Learning and knowing words is an incremental
process; it may take years of learning to fully know a word. A learner
may learn the word blue in terms of its spelling and pronunciation,
and the learner may be able to apply it correctly when describing
color. However, all the idiomatic expressions associated with blue,
including blue Monday, to feel blue, may never be learned. 14
2.4. A brief History of Teaching Vocabulary
Vocabulary teaching is one of the most important key concepts in
ELT classes. It plays a vital role in the process of language learning.
Nevertheless, it is ignored and given insufficient importance. In
previous years, language teaching programs were prepared to teach
basically the grammar and vocabulary was treated as separate from
grammar and other skills. It was believed that after the students had
mastered the grammar, they should be taught necessary words.
And, the language study was done as a word-memorization with
long lists of words. Therefore, language teachers gave little
attention to techniques for helping students learn vocabulary. But,
structures can not be used correctly if there is not enough
vocabulary knowledge. This idea can be explained as: Vocabulary
has been the neglected Cinderella of language teaching; preference
has always been, and still is, given to the two sisters Grammar and
More Grammar. Many English language teachers like to stress
grammar over vocabulary because grammar is a finite system,
whereas vocabulary is not. However, the argument in favor of
placing greater weight on vocabulary is strong. Evidence from the
field of corpus linguistics shows clearly that it is lexical competence,
not the learning of grammatical structures, that must be the priority
for language learners because lexical competence is at the heart of
communicative competence. (Sheenan, 2004:3) Thus, it can be said
that vocabulary has been seen to have a secondary status
compared to grammar of language and grammar has been given
more emphasis than vocabulary teaching. Allen (1983:3)
summerizes the following spesific reasons why vocabulary teaching
has been neglected in the past:
1. A need to emphasize grammar over vocabulary was felt, since
vocabulary was already being given too much time in language
classrooms.
2. Specialists in the field of methodology feared that if students
learned too many words before the basic grammar had been
mastered, they would make many mistakes in sentence
construction. As a result, teachers believed that teaching too many
words was not the best way of teaching language.
15
3. Those who advise teachers seemed to be saying that word
meanings can be learned only through experience and they can not
be adequately taught in a classroom. Consequently, little attention
was directed to vocabulary teaching techniques.
However, it can be said that toward the end of the twentieth
century, it is possible to see a revival of attention to vocabulary
teaching. Instead of describing and memorizing the vocabulary
items as long and boring lists of words, lexical forms have taken
place in contextualised and meaningful language(Brown, 2001).
There are generally three reasons why vocabulary teaching has
gradually regained its emphasis. First, the rise of communicative
methodologies in language teaching has emphasized vocabulary
learning/teaching since students need to improve their vocabulary in
order to communicate appropriately. Second, teaching grammar has
been deemphasized with the increasing need to communicate. And
third, teachers have realized that needs and interests of students
learning English for Specific Purposes (ESP) should be taken into
account. Today, the role of vocabulary is respected by the language
specialists, teachers and students. Seal (cited in Celce- Murcia,
Marianne, 1991:308) states that “now, after a period of relative
neglect, language teachers and researchers are waking up to the
realization that vocabulary is an important area worthy of effort and
investigation.” Now, most people accept that vocabulary is the most
important ingredient of any language. English, like any other
languages, consists of a great many words. Some of them are
frequently used and some not, but it is impossible to imagine a
language without the meaningful signs which carry the information.
This idea is supported as follows: Experienced teachers of English as
a Second Language know very well how important vocabulary is.
They know students must learn thousands of words that speakers
and writers of English use. Fortunately, the need for vocabulary is
one point on which teachers and students agree! (Allen, 1983:1) 16
Now teachers expect students to master vocabulary of the language
as well as its grammatical features. Since grammatical items are
meaningless without words and words are deficient without
grammatical items, the place of vocabulary is as important as the
place of grammar in language teaching and learning. 2.5. The
Importance of Teaching Vocabulary Vocabulary has a significant
value in language teaching. Without vocabulary, language can not
be learnt. To support this belief, Rivers (1981: 462) says that
“language is not dry bones. It is a living thing, growing entity,
clothed in the flesh of words.” In addition to this, Harmer‟s (1998:
66) idea about vocabulary is like that: “If language structures make
up the skeleton of language, then it is the vocabulary that provides
vital organs and the flesh.” In foreign language teaching, vocabulary
is the central element which links all skills. Proficiency in speaking,
listening, writing or reading would be impossible without words. That
is, words are indispensable because every phrase, every
grammatical structure, every piece of information consists of them.
To acquire a foreign language to some extent learners must also
acquire a number of words. And, It should not be neglected that the
learners have to have sufficient vocabulary knowledge as well as
structural and cultural knowledge in order to comprehend the
message and in order to express themselves. For a good
communication, a speaker should have a good vocabulary
knowledge, otherwise our communication will be insufficient. Brown
(2001: 377) supports this idea by saying that “if we are interested in
being communicative, words are among the first priorities.” McCarty
(1990:1) also states that “No matter how well the student learns
grammar, no matter how successfully the sounds of L2 are
mastered, without words to express a wide range of meanings,
communication in an L2 just can not happen in any meaningful
way.” Also, it is stated that: 17
Vocabulary and lexical units are at the heart of learning and
communication. No amount of grammatical or other type of
linguistic knowledge can be employed in communication or
discourse without the mediation of vocabulary Indeed, vocabulary
and lexical expressions can sustain a great deal of rudimentary
communication without much support from other aspects of the
language system. Understanding of the nature and significance of
vocabulary knowledge in a second language therefore needs to play
a much more central role in the knowledge base of language
teachers. (Richards, 2000,xi) In addition, researches show that
lexical problems frequently interfere with communication;
communication breaks down when people do not use the right
words. It is also obvious that the more words we know, the more
precisely we can express ourselves. Learners feel that many of their
difficulties in both receptive and productive language use result
from inadequate vocabulary. Even the best students often complain
about their primary problem in acquiring English, which is the lack of
vocabulary. Rivers (1983, cited in Nunan, 1998:117) claims that “the
acquisition of an adequate vocabulary is essential for successful
second language use because, without an extensive vocabulary, we
will be unable to use the structures and functions we may have
learned for comprehensible communication.” Nunan also adds that
“these days, the consensus of opinion seems to be that the
development of rich vocabulary is an important element in the
acquisition of a second language.” Consequently, students need to
recognize and produce a wide range of vocabulary items in order to
function accurately, appropriately and fluently in different situations.
Words are essential since the lack of them leads to the feeling of
insecurity of a foreign language speaker in the foreign language
environment. In other words, the students with an inadequate stock
of vocabulary may feel frustrated since they cannot express what
they want to say. In order to emphasize the vitally important
necessity of vocabulary, Wallace (1982:9) states that “…not being
able to find the words you need to express yourself is the most
frustrating experience in speaking another language whereas if we
have the vocabulary we need it is usually possible to communicate
after a fashion.” On the other hand, if the students have enough
vocabulary, they feel confident. Therefore, giving importance to
vocabulary becomes inevitable. 18
2.6. How to Teach Vocabulary Vocabulary teaching is not a
simple matter of matching up words in the native language and the
target language. It is also accepted that teaching word meanings
through the use of dictionary or memorizing long lists of words are
not the best ways to develop and to enlarge vocabulary knowledge
because of the fact that it is not a natural way of learning and
students are not able to internalize the subject matter. There is a
useful distinction the language teacher must keep in mind
concerning the teaching of vocabulary. First of all, s/he must be able
to determine whether the vocabulary items at hand are needed by
the students for active use (i.e., recall, production) or passive use
(i.e., recognition, comprehension). An understanding of this
distinction will influence one‟s approach to the vocabulary. Likewise,
vocabulary items necessary for the development of formal reading
and writing skills may not be appropriate when one is learning the
less formal vocabulary typical of listening and speaking. Another
related consideration is that the teacher must decide whether
passive vocabulary is to be learnt permanently or temporarily (i.e.,
acquired merely to understand a given passage in a piece of writing
or a movie with no consideration for later use). All these factors can
influence the way vocabulary is presented and taught in the ESL
classroom. The teacher concerned with vocabulary instruction must
also be aware of the work that has been done in the area of word
counts. There have been many word-lists based on frequency. Word-
lists based on both frequency and usefulness of the various
meanings of a word have also been prepared. The applications of
these word-lists to ESL have been to guide teachers in the selection
of controlled vocabulary used in beginning courses, Vocabulary
instruction is directly or indirectly part of any language course. The
ESL teachers may follow a plan if no provision has been made for
teaching vocabulary in either the syllabus or textbook: 19
1.Form: pronunciation and spelling The learner has to know its
pronunciation (what a word sounds like) and its spelling (what it
looks like). In teaching, both these aspects should be accurately
presented and learned. 2. Grammar The learner needs to be taught
the grammar of a new item. The item may have a change of form in
certain grammatical contexts or may have a way of connecting with
other words in sentences; it is important to provide learners with
this information at the same time we teach the base form. When
teaching a new verb, for example, we might give also its past form,
if this is irregular (break; broke), and we might note if it is transitive
or intransitive. Similarly, when teaching a noun, we may wish to
present its plural form, if irregular (dress, dresses), or draw learners‟
attention to the fact that it has no plural at all (homework,
information). We may present verbs such as want and hate together
with the verb form that follows them (want to, hate –ing), or
adjectives or verbs together with their following prepositions (afraid
of, good at). 3. Collocation The collocations are another factor that
makes a particular combination sound “right” or “wrong” in a given
context. They refer to the restrictions on how words can be used
together. For example, High collocates with probability, but not with
chance: a high probability but a good chance. Knowledge of
collocations is vital for the competent use of a language. 4.Aspects
of meaning (1): denotation, connotation, appropriateness Denotation
is often the sort of definition that is given in a dictionary. The
meaning of a word is primarily what it refers to in the real word, its
denotation; For example, rose denotes a kind of flower. Its
connotation: the associations, or positive or negative feelings it
evokes, which may or may not be indicated in a dictionary definition.
The word dog, for example, as understood by most British people,
has positive connotations of friendship and loyalty; whereas the
equivalent in Arabic, as understood by most people Arab countries
has negative associations of dirt and inferiority.
5. Aspects of meaning (2): meaning relationships 20
How the meaning of one item relates to the meaning of others can
also be useful in teaching. There are various such relationships. Here
are some of the main ones:
Synonyms: items that mean the same, or nearly the same; for
example, bright, clever, smart may serve as synonyms of intelligent.
Antonyms: items that mean the opposite; beautiful is an antonym of
ugly.
Hyponyms: items that serve as specific examples of a general
concept; dress, skirt, t-shirt are hyponyms of clothes.
Co-hyponyms or co-ordinates: other items that are the “same kind of
thing”; horse, bird, fish and dog are co-ordinates.
Superordinates: general concepts that “cover” specific items; fruit is
the superordinate of apple, orange, banana.
Translation: words or expressions in the learners‟ mother tongue
that are equivalent in meaning to the item being taught.
6. Word formation Vocabulary items can often be broken down into
their component “bits”. Exactly how these bits are put together is
another piece of information- perhaps mainly for more advanced
learners. The common prefixes and suffixes may be taught: for
example, if learners know the meaning of re- , in- and –hood, this
will help them guess the meanings of words like regain, insensitive
and childhood. Another way vocabulary items are built is by
combining two words (two nouns, or a gerund and a noun, or a noun
and a verb) to make one item: a single compound word, or two
separate, sometimes hyphenated words (bookcase, swimming pool).
Thus, vocabulary teaching is a very complex process. This
understanding has led to a considerable emphasis on vocabulary.
Lots of strategies are used to teach vocabulary today. Some
techniques such as games, songs, jokes, drama activities that give
students an opportunity of using the new words in meaningful
learning conditions can be helpful. Rivers (1981: 463) points out that
“vocabulary can not be taught. It can be presented, explained,
included in all kinds of activities, but it must be learned by the
individual. „The vocabulary we understand‟ and „the vocabulary we
can use‟ varies in 21
nature and in quantity from one person to another even in our
native language.” Rivers (1981: 469) also asserts that “vocabulary
learning must be active. Vocabulary learning should always be in a
purposeful context. Students should be involved in an activity which
requires them to retrieve from their long term memory store
vocabulary which is appropriate in the circumstances.” Therefore,
language teachers can help their students by giving them ideas on
how to learn vocabulary and some guidance on what to learn. They
need to find systematic ways of helping learners with vocabulary
and they should sometimes give enough time to present vocabulary
thoroughly and systematically. Nation supports this idea that
vocabulary should be taught in a systematic and principled
approach due to the following reasons:
1. Because of the considerable research on vocabulary we have
good information about what to do about vocabulary and about what
vocabulary to focus on.
2. There is a wide variety of ways for dealing with vocabulary in
foreign or second language learning.
3. Both learners and researchers see vocabulary as a very important
if not the most important element in language learning. Learners
feel that many of their difficulties in both receptive and productive
language use, result from an inadequate vocabulary.
(Nation, 1990: 1- 2) Consequently, vocabulary teaching will be just
boredom and time-consuming without any technique. So, while
teaching new words, various ways which are interesting, colourful
and enjoyable can be used. A teacher should know and apply
various techniques targeting the needs and interests of the students
so that teaching can be more motivating and productive. To sum up,
As teachers, we have to determine clearly what to teach and not to
teach. Sometimes our students are loaded with a lot of unnecessary,
impractical vocabulary. The vocabulary objectives must be clearly
announced.